When you take a closer look at their philosophies, it's plain to see why the Connecticut Challenge and Sherpa make for a perfect fit.

The CT Challenge was founded in 2005 to address the lack of resources available to help cancer survivors after the completion of their treatment. The Charity Bike Ride, its signature fundraising event, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this weekend with nearly a thousand riders and over 90 teams already registered for the two-day event.

This is where Sherpa comes in.

Sherpa is a cycling and fitness center based in Westport and this will be the fourth year "Team Sherpa" will be riding in support of the CT Challenge.

"The framework of our business is a different dynamic from your typical fitness gym or spinning studio," Brett Jones, the Team Sherpa captain and one of 29 Norwalk riders registered in the bike ride so far, points out. "Sherpa is popular in Tibet. They're the guys who help you climb Mt. Everest. In order to climb Mt. Everest you have to have a Sherpa.

"In short, we're your local Sherpa. Our coaches and trainers help you climb your metamorphic mountain, anywhere from a five-pound weight loss to training for a pretty competitive cycling event."

And Sherpa's mission ties right in with that of the CT Challenge.

"This is their signature event and it asks people to challenge themselves," Jones continued. "At Sherpa, we ask our clients to challenge themselves. Our slogan is 'Move Your Boundaries.' Go outside that box and find a new definition of what you think of yourself."

This weekend's charity bike ride certainly allows them to do that. A 100-mile ride for serious cyclists kicks off the fundraising event on Friday, starting in upstate Lakeville and finishing in Westport.

Meanwhile, the Saturday ride has options for 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mile rides, which all start and finish at the Fairfield County Hunt Club in Westport.

Note the annual event is a "ride" and not a race. Riders of all ages and skill levels participate and raise funds from personal sponsors. All they have to do is register on bike.ctchallenge.com.

"The great thing about the CT Challenge is there's no designated fitness level to compete or participate," Jones said. "You have people of all different levels with the same goal whether they riding 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles. The mission of Sherpa is to take control of your life through fitness."

Sherpa serves an entire spectrum of clients, from the serious bike rider--"About to 15 to 18 percent of our clients," according to Jones--to the recreational cyclist.

"We're a company accepting of all ability levels," he emphasized. "Most of our clients are average Joes, 45 to 55 years of age. That's our biggest age demographic. We really build around general fitness and keeping people healthy and fit in an efficient manner.

"We want to make people really goal-oriented, to get from point A to point B. We're not a one-size-fits-all shoe. The CT Challenge is very palpable no matter what fitness level you're at. A 25-mile ride for one person is just as difficult as a 100-mile ride is for another person.

"It's taking physical training and combining that with two wheels and spinning your legs in a circle."

There are a lot of legs spinning on a daily basis at Sherpa, which was founded in 2007 by Jean Paul Desrosiers, the original owner of Target Training in Westport.

"We had a small group of people at first," Jones, who wasn't with the company at the time, said. "It was primarily a one-on-one coach/trainer to client business then."

But as the number of clients expanded, so did Sherpa, which moved to its current location at 1555 Post Road East in Westport in 2012. Jones had come on board the previous year.

"I always knew Jean (Desrosiers). I played golf with him and we would ride bikes."

Growing up in Staten Island, Jones played football and baseball in high school and then attended Sacred Heart University, graduating in 2008 with a degree in Exercise Science.

"My first job was at Target Training, but that was after Jean had left," he explained. "I was a trainer and coach there from 2008 to 2010, then I worked in Manhattan as a physical therapist assistant for a little over a year."

In 2011, he joined Desrosiers at Sherpa and has since become a limited partner in the business. That's the same year Sherpa became involved in the CT Challenge.

"It only made sense to get involved," Jones, now 28, said. "The starting line is just two city blocks behind our business, less than a mile away."

Sherpa's presence increased every year, too.

"Last year was the first year we really organized a large team," Jones noted. "In past years our team was made up of just staff members, maybe five at the most. But now there are actual clients involved. Last year we had 19 riders and this year, with a week left, we had 18.

"This year we have a mother and son riding on our team. I'm riding with my girlfriend. And we have a twin brother and sister riding with Sherpa for the second year.

"We're also on pace to beat our fundraising effort from last year. This year we set a goal of $20,000. Last year as a team we raised just under $16,500."

Overall, last year's bike ride raised $1.6 million for the CT Challenge's Center for Survivorship in Southport that provides support services for cancer survivors, many of whom continue to struggle with the long-term effects of their disease and their treatments.

"We all know people who have battled cancer with incredible courage," co-founder Jeff Keith of Fairfield said in a 2010 interview. "What we don't often see is how these survivors may continue to struggle with the long-term effects of their disease and their treatments.

"By helping us to raise money to improve survivorship programs across Connecticut, our riders, volunteers and donors are making a very direct, positive impact on the cancer survivors in their lives."

The $10 million raised from the first nine charity bike rides helped fund several more cancer survivorship programs across the state, forming what has become known as the Connecticut Challenge Survivorship Network.

The goal is to work with every hospital across the state to offer comprehensive care for Connecticut's 120,000 cancer survivors no matter where they live.

Close to a hundred of those survivors will be riding in this weekend's Challenge and will be honored--along with all cancer survivors in attendance--during opening ceremonies Saturday morning. Bobby Valentine, the former Mets and Red Sox manager and current Sacred Heart athletic director, is the honorary co-chair along with 11-year-old Maya Oberstein, a cancer survivor from West Hartford who lost her leg to cancer.

"You don't have to travel too far to find someone who has been touched by cancer," Jones said. "My mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer when I was in college. She actually beat that, but unfortunately she passed away in 2011, on Mother's Day, from something not related to cancer.

"But I'll be thinking about her when I'm riding."

All the riders on Team Sherpa have been preparing for some time now, outdoors as well as indoors at their Westport facility.

"In the summer we're predominantly outdoors," Jones said. "The only time we're indoors is during inclement weather or if the time of day is not conducive. Some of our clients work in Manhattan and come in to get an early ride (before daylight)."

They can even bring their own bike, too, and hook it up to a "computrainer," which charts their ride on an 110-inch reality screen.

"They can feel going up hills and going downhill, just like on the course they'll be riding," Jones pointed out. "It also measures their RPMs, their speed, hours, their heart rate."

But whatever way members of Team Sherpa reach their goal, the feeling they experience after they reach the finish line will be worth all the work they put in.

"It's a great feeling," Brett Jones agreed. "But it's not so much how you feel about finishing, but what you feel seeing everyone else finish around you. People you know worked so hard, people you see come in day in and day out, commit to a goal, plan for it, achieve it, and the elation of completing it.

"It's nice to see it and get a taste of it during an event like the Connecticut Challenge."